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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25631170">Standing Up</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyCharX/pseuds/ShinyCharX'>ShinyCharX</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Six - Marlow/Moss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Panic Attacks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:20:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Rape/Non-Con, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>929</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25631170</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyCharX/pseuds/ShinyCharX</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kat and the others are going to start a history lesson on the tudor time period. What happens when the misinformation gets to be too much for her?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anne of Cleves/Katherine Howard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Standing Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My very first oneshot! This was kind of a vent thing after I finished my All You Wanna do animatic.</p><p>So yeah.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, today marks the beginning of our unit on the Tudor time period."</p>
<p>Mr. Johnson, our forty-five-year-old blonde history teacher announces this to us the second that class starts. The other queens and I share uneasy looks, Anne on my left Anna on my right. Catherine was next to Anna, Cathy was next to Anne, and Jane was next to Cathy. </p>
<p>"Now can anyone tell us about anything you already know about the queens?" <br/>The boy behind me, Leroy says "Howard was a straight slut."</p>
<p>My breath hitches and Anna takes my hand gently attempting to soothe me. Anne turns around so harshly that it could tear some of the soft scar tissue around her neck.</p>
<p>"What did you just say." </p>
<p>Anne's voice is colder than ice, as if she hates him with every fibre of her being. </p>
<p><br/>I'm getting angry now. It's about time I stand up for myself, even if it means revealing who we really are. "She was a <em>whore</em> and a <em>slut</em>. She seduced multiple people throughout her life, including the <em>king</em> and her own <em>cousin</em>. She deserves what she got. That <em>vixen</em> <em>bitch</em> deserved to be beheaded."</p>
<p>"I didn't want it." I say lowly. </p>
<p>"Miss Howard, what was that? Can you please speak up?"</p>
<p>I stand abruptly, slamming my hands down violently on the desk; making the entire class jump except for the other queens who were expecting this to happen eventually.</p>
<p>"I NEVER WANTED ANY OF IT!" I yell in a rage, rubbing angry tears out of my eyes.</p>
<p><br/>"Miss Howard," Mr. Johnson says nervously, obviously confused. "What are y-"</p>
<p>"I WAS <em>ELEVEN</em>. ELEVEN WHEN MANNOX MOLESTED ME AND TWELVE AND THIRTEEN YEARS OLD WHEN I WAS RAPED! I thought I was being loved but... I wasn't. When I moved back to my step-grandmother's place, the girls would bring in guys and have sex in exchange for gifts and food. I thought it was fine, even though it made me miserable. Dereham was very stubborn to say the least. Making me use his 'favorite quill' until my wrists hurt from exhaustion. Then he raped me multiple times as well by the age of seventeen, when I caught Henry's eye."</p>
<p> I take a shaky breath, and Anne takes my hand and gives me a reassuring nod and a small smile.</p>
<p><br/>"Henry was fourty eight when he married me. I knew everyone else in England was just as disgusted as I was. He was disgusting. He pushed and pulled and bit and squeezed. At this rate my mind would just shut down and let it happen. When I was eighteen, I met Thomas. He was nice, and different. Or so I thought. <em>'A connection',</em> he said. Just like everyone else. He forced me to write him love letters, and blackmailed me with threats of telling the king that I forced myself on him. So I went along with it to keep my head. Word got out and I spent my day in the dungeon practicing laying my head on the chopping block. People had to help me up to the platform, and my head was painfully hacked off. And now that I know Thomas is or was my cousin, that makes it worse. Now we're here." I yank off my choker, showing the nasty, thick shredded skin of a scar, clearly having been beheaded(the only way to get that kind of scar). </p>
<p>I march up to Leroy(I had gone up to the front of the room by the time I mentioned Dereham) and lean forward."So yeah. Call me a vixen, a bitch, a seductress, or a whore. But just know you're blaming the victim who had literally no control. I said no. <em>So. Many. Times.</em> And they. <em>Never. Listened</em>." </p>
<p>The entire class seemed pale. Leroy has the decency to look ashamed. Anna takes my hand and kisses my cheek softly. </p>
<p><br/>"I'm proud of you for speaking out, mein schatz," Anna mumbles, running her hand through my pink dyed hair. I walk out of the room, Jane rubbing my back soothingly.</p>
<p>____________________________________________________</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>I make it to the bathroom finally. I shudder and let the sadness overtake me. I begin to sob over the life I never had. The life I never got to live. The horribly abusive life of an innocent nineteen year old girl who just wanted a friend.</p>
<p>"Kätzchen..." I hear Anna mutter. She walks over and sits down next to me, while Jane sings a soft lullaby while rubbing my back in an attempt to reassure me. The way Leroy spoke.</p>
<p>
  <strong>"Whore. Bitch. <em>Slut</em>."</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Katherine, be a good little girl and just let me in. You'll love it. I promise. You'll be just a good as you are with the flute."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Your hands should be using another, better quill, my dear."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"You're my wife, luv. This is a given. You should be honored."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"This is what friends do. This is what <span class="u">we</span> do."</em>
</p>
<p>Their voices haunt my ears, drowning out Anna and Jane. I see their shadows over me, their hands all over me, and the animalistic hunger in their eyes.</p>
<p>I feel like I'm drowning. </p>
<p>
  <em>"You love me. Admit it Katherine. "</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I will give you heaven on earth."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"You are my rose without a thorn, my dear."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Oh Katherine, don't you see? We have a <span class="u">connection</span>."</em>
</p>
<p>I think my breathing is shallow. They're closing in on me-</p>
<p><br/>Silence.</p>
<p>Pure silence.</p>
<p>I sigh, tears streaming down my face. Anna is next to me, murmuring gentle reassurances in German. Anne, Cathy, and Catherine were in the doorway.</p>
<p>"I wanna go home."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I just wanted to post this. Tell me about how I described Kat's panic attack. I wanna make sure I did it right.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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